Help with black and white ebony

[boodrow]

I bought some BWE stopper blanks from Woodcraft that was on sale for 3.50 each. The one in the pic is one I squared up on the miter saw to turn. When I drilled it there was no dust came out, more like mud. I carried inside the house to let it dry , since it was coated heavy with anchor seal. After a couple days if u look close at the blank there is a crack at about the 630 position that goes down quite a bit. I checked the others with my half arsed moisture meter that only goes to 22 % moisture and it pegged out. I called and talked to Woodcraft and the lady was very nice and sent me 2 more blanks for the 1 that cracked. Only prob is they peg out on the moisture meter also. Am I goin to have to wait a year to turn these? Anyone with some BWE and I talkin bout u Doug B ;D Let me know what I should do.
Boodrow

[sachbvn]

I'll be interested to hear what the "experts" have to say. That sucks Boodrow - but at least Woodcraft made it right....well....kinda, they tried anyways. Man that'd suck if you have to wait to use them....

OH!! Here - since you have an extra one anways.... or hell - even use the cracked one. Boil it in water for an hour or so - let it dry, see what the moisture measures at then.


Zac

[TDHofstetter]

Me, I'd boil it... but then I'd tuck it away for about two weeks. Should be fine then.

[Doug B]

I'm afraid I'll be of no help to you Boodrow. I use lots of BWE but I got it all at once - My brother and I went in on 300 lbs of off cuts a couple years ago, and I've been working on my share of it ever since. It was all nice and dry. I can honestly say I've never had any that was not completely dry.

That really sucks though. It all comes with a heavy coating of wax on it, so it is going to be hard to get any DNA to work on it...boiling might be your best bet. Or maybe the microwave thing...I've never tried it myself, but it is supposed to work.

Good luck!

[maverick31]

I have bought a few blk/wht ebony blanks from woodcraft in austin and did not have any trouble. I would boil also. I have boiled a few bottle stopper blanks that were very green, turned em a few weeks later with no problems afterwards. The blanks I boiled were not b/w ebony though.

[boodrow]

Thanks for the help yall !! Looks like I will boil a couple and see what happens.
By the way how long do u boil um?
Boodrow

[sachbvn]

I think they say an hour for each inch it is thick - I'm not sure though.....


Zac

[TDHofstetter]

If they're two inches square... I think I'd boil 'em for no less than an hour, maybe two. Take 'em out of the still-boiling water with hotdog tongs & put 'em right into a brown paper sack. Worst thing to do is let the water cool down while the wood is still in it - you want it still going at a rolling boil when you take 'em out.

[boodrow]

Thanks yall , I had no idea it took that long??? I also guess u just bring it up past boiling , also hell im no cook , do u put a lid on it whilst its boilin?? Im handicapped in the kitchen.
Boodrow

[Mark]

LOL - Boodrow - the lid will help the pot of water get to boiling sooner, rather than later. Once it's rolling, the lid doesn't much matter anymore.

My experience with BWE has been the opposite - I bought some pieces out of the "scrap bin", and most was fine. However, on one of the pieces, as I got closer to one end, I found more and more small cracks, and areas that were real brittle. I read up some on it, and found that it can be over-cured in the drying kiln, leaving it with cracks and such.

Mark

[TDHofstetter]

Boo - put a lid on it till it gets to a rolling boil, then the lid is optional. Lid will help boil it with less fuel, but tip the lid so it doesn't boil over & make a mess.

The whole concept there is to just get the wood to boiling temperature all the way through. The boiling isn't doing anything special to the wood, you're just trying to get the center core up to that temperature & no higher. Wood is naturally insulated, so it takes a while to get it hot inside.

Getting the core up to boiling temperature boils the moisture that's inside & forces it out of the wood under steam pressure. When the core has boiled, all the rest of the wood has had all its moisture boiled, too, so there's very little left in it. Then, when you take it out of the boiling water with tongs, cooler air rushes in to fill all the little spaces left behind where the moisture used to be.

[boodrow]

Thanks Tim , will prob have to wait till the war dept isnt home , she would go ballistic if she seen wood boilin on her stove top.
Boodrow

[Doug B]

Boodrow, I have one of those propane camp stoves that I use to boil water in - I'm no cook either, but I can boil water

Even a hot plate would work out in the shop or outside. Like Tim says, tongs are great to have available. That's very true for the DNA treatment too - I keep a pair handy in the shop all the time. Don't get them mixed up with the grilling equipment

[TDHofstetter]

I've got an old boiling-water-bath canner WITH NO GASKET and NO PRESSURE CAP in my shop, and an electric hotplate to run it. That works really pretty well for my boiling.

[boodrow]

Good point ! I do have an ol top plate burner.
Boodrow

[sdb777]

More fun in the kitchen, and you heat the house too!

Just set the camera up, switch it to video so when the wife walks in we can all get a good giggle out of it!




Scott (good luck) B

[boodrow]

Well I boiled 5 pieces approx 1.5x1.5 x2.5 yesterday for bout an hour and 15 minutes . Pissed the war dept off in doin it as I expected. Took um rite off the stove and brown bagged um. Took a peek at um today, all but one is cracking on the ends. Do i need to anchor seal um or soak in DNA. I felt for sure they were dry enough?? Or maybe I need to reboil. Any help on this would be appreciated
Boodrow

[Doug B]

That just sucks Boodrow! I am not sure what I'd do in your situation, but using Anchorseal, if it works, would still require that you wait a long time for it to dry out. 1 year per inch of thickness is what I have heard, which is why boiling and DNA treatments are so popular. It's hard to wait that long.

I guess I'd recommend boiling again, but just because I know that would get you in trouble with the missus again ;D

[TDHofstetter]

Holy CROWS - that's some nasty wood for splitting if it's still doing it after that much boiling!

Could be that the pieces you have are just gonna' check PERIOD. Too close to the core of the tree, maybe.

[boodrow]

Thanks yall , now that ive thought about it all the wax was boiled off of um , I think this afternoon im goin to put um in DNA , cant screw um up any worse than they allready are.
Boodrow